Indo-Pakistan Border, April 23
Caught between the devil and the deep sea, a large population of the border belt including Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepore have been living a life of penury because of stand off between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of December 13 attack on Parliament.
Literally living on a razor’s edge, the farming community have not been able to harvest their wheat neither across the fencing nor in mine-infested fields. Their misery has been compounded due to the large scale burning of widespread crop following mines explosion. The administration which claims to have completed the ‘girdawaris’ of the standing crops where mines have been laid by the Army has failed to disburse the compensation so far. Anguished farmers has been left high and dry with no hope of getting reimbursement of the double loss suffered during the last four months after the Army build-up.
What is worse, not a single minister or Member Parliament or the Chief Minister have spared time to visit the affected areas. Notwithstanding the tall claims of being pro-farmer, not even a single MLA or MP of the Shiromani Akali Dal tried to have an on-the-spot assessment of the standing crop which has been destroyed in the devastating mine blast.
However, a fact-finding team of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Mr Bhai Ram Singh, its general secretary, visited various parts of the affected areas of border. Mr Simranjit Singh Mann, President SAD (Amritsar) said he would submit this report on the floor of Parliament Chakk village in Amritsar district which ia a few yards away from the zero line with population of 600, the entire agricultural land of 400 acres has come under mines.
A former sarpanch of the village, Mr Gurdip Singh, and his two brothers — Mr Virsa Singh and Mr Mohinder Singh told the visiting team that they owned more than 50 acre and their entire standing wheat crop had been gutted in the fire after bursting of mines yesterday. They refuted the claims of the district administration that the fire was the result of a short circuit as there was no power supply at the time. The farmers said if a Deputy Commissioner could not find time for a visit to see the damage caused due to mine blasts, how, could be come to know the actual loss they (the farmers) suffered during the fire.
Another marginal farmer from Chakk village, owner of 14 acres, said the loss was total as he did not have money to purchase fodder for his cattle. Farmers of this village have been running from pillar to post to secure immediate relief to sustain their family. The fact-finding report of the SAD (Amritsar) quoted Jarnail Singh, panch of Chakk village as saying that the “arhtiyas” (commission agents) were after their blood seeking the money back taken at the time of wheat sowing. He said most of the farmers would be forced to resort to begging if the apathy of administration continued for a long time. He said the farmers won’t be able to sow the coming paddy crop as no support from the administration was coming forward.
The fact-finding team also visited Rania and Pandori (Amritsar), which are also a few yards away from the Indo-Pakistan border to see the plight of peasants many families affected by the fire Chakk village took refuge at Dera Dayal Singh at Pandori village. Sucha Singh told the visiting team that residents of border village have been living hell-like life as officials of the district administration don’t bother to redress their grievances.
Similarly, Surinder Singh and Mohinder Singh, residents of Khemkarn and Khalra respectively, alleged that the district administration never bother to come to their rescue at the time of crisis.
They said neither the state government nor the Central Government made any attempt to formulate a policy for residents of the border belt. Residents of the border belt had to migrate to safer places many a time after the Partition and they have been facing numerous perennial problems on account of lack of basic amenities like health services, water and power supply. At the time of elections, the leaders of various political parties provide only lip sympathy to them.
To add to their woes farmers of the border belt are not being allowed to sow even sugarcane which is objected to by the Army.
